Women Not Invited To Venture Capital Party?

Working Woman Report is the source for stories about women in business, women in leadership, and news about empowering women.
It's updated daily and curated by Emmy Award Winning Journalist, Allison Haunss.

How come women only get a fraction of the venture capital funding that men do?

That was one topic of a lunchtime talk held Thursday at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center as part of Startup Week Chattanooga, a five-day event to celebrate all things high-tech and entrepreneurial in the Scenic City.

“What are we as women doing to hold ourselves back?” asked Sheri Young, the founder and CEO of Feminology, a Chattanooga- and Nashville-based marketing and public relations firm that works with aspiring female-owned brands.

Only about 13 percent of venture capital-funded companies are owned by women, said Young.

One unfair stereotype that female entrepreneurs face is that they don’t think big enough, said Alex Lavidge, the entrepreneur-in-residence at The Company Lab (CO.LAB) a nonprofit organization on the first floor of the Edney Building at Market and 11th streets downtown that helps would-be entrepreneurs make their business ideas come to life.

“[Investors think] you’re not going to create an explosive, high-growth opportunity,” said Lavidge, one of two men on the panel.

“Appalling” was the word that panelist Julia Maltby used to describe the venture capital figure that “only 4 percent of the money goes to firms that entirely female-founded.”

“Crowdfunding” is another way female entrepreneurs can get started, said Maltby, the director of business development at Plum Valley, a New York City-based tech platform that uses crowdfuding helps women finance business ventures.

“It’s not a donation,” said Maltby, who participated as a panelist via videoconference. For example, a woman who needed to raise $20,000 for her clothing business did so by posting the designs on Plum Valley and getting people to pay for them before they had been made.

Panelists said perceptions are changing, and women’s share of the venture capital pie is growing — though slowly.